The play is set in 1947 (the year it premiered) in New
Orleans. Having lost their ancestral
Mississippi home to creditors, Blanche Dubois arrives at the shabby French
Quarter flat of her sister Stella. When
we first meet Blanche she explains she is on a leave of absence from teaching
high school English on account of her “nerves.” From her first meeting with
Stella’s husband Stanley Kowalski, a World War II vet, we detect class conflict
and sexual tension between the two of them. As Blanche’s visit becomes more and more protracted, Stanley becomes
increasingly suspicious of her motives and background. Meanwhile, she begins to date Mitch, one of
Stanley’s poker buddies. Gradually we learn more about Blanche’s checkered past.
She was once married to a young man who committed suicide after she discovered
him in a sexual encounter with another man. Stanley uncovers rumors that she was fired from her teaching job for
having sex with a student. As the play
progresses, fueled by her surreptitious drinking, Blanche’s mental state
unravels. When Stanley warns Mitch about Blanche’s notorious reputation, Mitch
rejects her. Adding insult to injury,
while Stella is having a baby, Stanley rapes his sister-in-law. Blanche’s emotional deterioration is complete. In the final scene, a doctor and nurse arrive
to take Blanche to a mental hospital. She initially resists them, but when the doctor helps her up she
willingly surrenders: “Whoever you are - I have always depended on the kindness
of strangers"(p. 178).
